RRB Pension News: Will Regional Rural Bank Pension Scheme Be At Par With National Banks?

Latest RRB pension news in 2018 is that regional rural bank employees are likely to get same pension as national bank employees. Media reports suggest that Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has given his nod for the proposal. However official notice is awaited.

A detailed report on new RRB pension scheme will be presented in the Supreme Court. If such a new scheme gets implemented, then its date of implementation will also be clarified. The new scheme will benefit 90 thousand bank employees which include 80 thousand bank workers and 10 thousand retired personnel. This has been first reported by Dainik Bhaskar.

Social media whispers also suggest that GOI will hold a meeting with NABARD on August 7 to discuss details of the RRB pension. The government will be advising the apex development financial institution in preparing a pension scheme for pension parity as per apex court orders.

As per orders of the Supreme Court dated 25 April, a new scheme was directed to be implemented within three months. However, the government had responded that RRBs were in deficit, making the move difficult. In India, there are 21,328 branches of RRBs spread across 645 districts.

What Is The Matter Regarding RRB Pension?

Regional Rural Banks (RRB) or Gramin Banks were established as per RRB Act 1976. The first batch of people to retire from Gramin Banks was twenty years ago. Since then, many people have retired. As per a petition filed in change.org, “We beg to submit the hardships and piteous state of the retired employees of Regional Rural Banks (popularly known as Gramin Banks) and their family members due to the denial of pension to this section of empolyees.”

In the government sector, all employees (major sectors), those in public sector, enjoy pension schemes. This helps them take care of themselves and immediate dependents in old age. RRB personnel have time and again submitted pleas to get pensions too.

In 2011, Karnataka High Court, and in 2012, Rajasthan High Court gave directions to the government to implement pension scheme at par with other banks. Government of India filed an SLP in Supreme Court in response to these. Upon hearing the cases several times, honorable Supreme Court directed the government to reach an amicable settlement as per interim order dated 26 Nov 2014.

The government, it is understood from the petition, agreed in principle to pay pension amount. However, in practice, the conditions were so restrictive that all 56 RRBs could not comply. Pension payment was linked to capital adequacy and profitability.

Lack of capital stands to be biggest reason for absence of RRB pension

The regional rural banks in India are in place to implement pro-poor programs, social security programs like PMJJBY, PMSBY, PMJDY. A financial institution running such activities are not expected to make profits. This is a lacuna in the pension scheme implementation, as has been pointed out in the petition.

All past and present RRB staff are eagerly waiting for the Supreme Court and GOI’s final words and actions in RRB pension scheme.